Writing
The development of writing cannot be viewed in isolation from reading, speaking and listening, or drama and as a result we use all aspects of the English curriculum to support our teaching of writing. It is our aim that children not only enjoy writing but also understand how to become better writers. Through the use of high-quality shared texts, we teach children the crucial technical and grammatical features of writing which enables pupils to understand why they are learning about them. Due to the ever-changing nature of culture and interests, we adopt a range of stimuli to support the children in reading the world around them, including using film, drama and other mixed-media to engage them.
In addition to transcriptional and grammatical skills, children are taught higher order composition skills, such as how to use planning, drafting and editing to improve and refine their writing. We also engage them in writing for a range of different purposes and audiences so that they learn how to adapt their style. With the development of these skills, the children re given wide opportunities to develop their writing across different subjects, which enables them to see the value of writing outside of isolated English learning.
Handwriting
At Herne Bay Junior School we recognise that being able to write legibly and fluently is an important skill that is required in order to communicate effectively to others. Although our world may be becoming increasingly technological, we believe it is still important for children to develop their handwriting and recognise the hand written word as well as the typed one.
We aim for pupils to:
• Use a correct pencil grip
• Form all letters correctly – both upper and lower case
• Orientate and size their letters appropriately
• Write legibly in a cursive style with increasing fluency and speed